Heretofore, many types of thermoplastic vulcanizates were known. More specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,953 to Coran and Patel relates to thermoplastic compositions comprising blends of styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN) resin and nitrile rubber of high gel content.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,863 to Coran et al. relates to a thermoplastic composition comprising blends of cross-linked rubber and thermoplastic linear crystalline polyester using thermoplastic polyesters having a softening point above 50.degree. C. Rubbers include natural or synthetic diene rubber polyurethane rubber and nitrile rubber. The blends may also contain plasticizers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,972 relates to polyalkylene terephthalates which contain a fluorinated polyolefin in addition to a polymer having a glass transition temperature of less than -30.degree. C.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,839 relates to elastomeric compositions having improved heat aging properties provided by blends of thermoplastic polyester resin and hydrogenated nitrile rubber. The rubber component of the composition is at least partially cured.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,550,190 to Hasegawa et al. relates to a thermoplastic elastomer composition obtained by dynamically crosslinking (A) 51-95% by weight of a thermoplastic polyester-ether elastomer and (B) 49-5% by weight of a rubber during kneading.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,637,407 to Hert et al. relates to a composite including a rubber/thermoplastic blend adherent by itself to a thermoplastic material; the blend is in the form of a thermoplastic matrix containing rubber nodules functionalized and vulcanized during the mixing with the thermoplastic. Composite articles are obtained by overmoulding the vulcanized rubber/thermoplastic blend onto the thermoplastic.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,376,723 to Vogt et al. relates to a thermoplastic polymer blend of polyurethane and nitrile rubber having a Shore A hardness of about 55 to 70. The thermoplastic polyurethane component includes at least about 50 weight percent (wt. %) polyisocyanate; the nitrile rubber component includes about 34 mole percent (mol %) acrylonitrile; and, the ratio between the thermoplastic polyurethane component and the nitrile rubber component is about 30:70 to 40:60 volume percentage (vol. %). A peroxide crosslinking agent for the nitrile rubber may be mixed into the TPU/nitrile rubber blend.